missing
by Baconfat
Summary: On the road to GGarden, Zell and Rinoa have a talk while the others are in the 'dream world'.


Squall didn't even _say_ anything the whole time she was yelling at him, trying to get through -- "Don't you ever worry about or even _think_ about the well-being of your comrades?! Don't you understand?!"

Squall put his hands to his head, his eyes shut tight -- and crumpled to the ground in a faint. Rinoa took a step back -- _What?_ -- in time to see Quistis and Selphie falling, too. "What's going on?!"

Zell was crouching to check on Selphie. "I think," he looked up at her, "...they went to the 'dream world'."

"...The dream world?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It happened once before, on the way to Timber. We all just... fell asleep, an' we all had the same dream. There was this Galbadian soldier named Laguna, and his friends Kiros and Ward..." He straightened up again, looking from Selphie to Squall to Quistis, clenching and unclenching his fists. "We dunno what the cause is."

Rinoa glanced down at Squall. She could see his eyes moving rapidly under his eyelids, but besides that, he was still. "...How strange."

Zell rubbed at the back of his neck, glancing around. "I... I dunno, I guess all we can do's wait for them to wake up."

"You're SeeDs, right?" she asked. "You guys use magic, don't you? Could it be something like that?"

He shrugged. "Not any magic I ever heard of. And it didn't hurt or anything." He sat down heavily on a tree log, and then got up just as quickly to start punching at air, so nervous he couldn't sit still.

It reminded her why she'd been yelling at Squall in the first place. "Listen," she said. "Those Galbadian soldiers back there? You guys beat them like they were nothing! I bet a whole Garden full of you could squash the President and his army flat."

"Y-you think so?"

"I know so! Seifer always said --" But at Seifer's name he took a startled step back, like she'd said something wrong.

"Seifer's not a SeeD," he said quickly, and before she could say anything to that he crossed one foot in front of the other, put a hand on his hip, and asked, "How do you know him, anyway?" He sounded really accusing, too.

She blinked, then glanced down at Squall, wondering if he knew Seifer, if they got along -- or if anybody was even allowed to have friends at Garden. "We spent last summer together in Timber." She couldn't help her smile, thinking about it. About him. "He... really believed in the Owls, really thought we could take on the President and win." And they could. They _could_, if everybody would just work together, and --

Zell was rolling his eyes. "That guy thinks he can do anything."

Rinoa looked at him. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Tch," he answered. "I dunno what he was like with you, but at Garden Seifer's a real jerk."

That brought up a different set of memories, and some she didn't want to look at too closely. She shook her head. "I guess he could be a little harsh sometimes, but," she gestured at Squall, "no worse than _him_."

And Zell's fists were up, just like that. "Hey, Squall's just tryin' to make sure we all get out of this okay!"

"You're defending him? After the way he treated you just now?"

Zell took another step back, his fists dropping. "It -- he wasn't --" His shoulders slumped. "It's my fault Garden's in trouble. Squall's -- I bet he's really worried about everyone in Balamb!"

Sure didn't seem like it. He didn't seem to care much about_ anyone_ -- not the Timber resistance, and _certainly_ not his friends. But arguing about it wasn't going to help. Rinoa sighed, and crouched to poke at Squall again. "Then maybe he should wake up, already. Come on, Squall." She shook his shoulder. Nothing. His eyes were still moving, his breath ruffling the fur on his collar.

Stupid. She'd been stupid to think hiring SeeD would solve everything. They were just human, just kids like her, and they didn't even care about Timber. They had their own homes to worry about.

Rinoa sat down, pulled her knees up. "...No good." And after a minute, she could hear Zell get back to punching at the air again. "...I don't know how we're going to get out of this, or what's going to happen. I wish he were here."

Zell's rustling stopped. "You mean Seifer?"

She nodded.

"Tch. He made everything _worse_ at the TV station. If he hadn't shown up like that I never woulda -- and -- and where the hell'd he go, anyway? There was just some -- some flash of light and then nothing! When we find him again, I'm gonna kick his ass."

"...I hope he's okay," she said.

Zell didn't say anything, for a long time, and when she looked over again he was sitting on that log, his head in his hands.


End file.
